SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks to be visiting the construction site of Tesla’s gigafactory in Gruenheide, near Berlin, Germany, May 17, 2021.
Michele Tantussi | Reuters
Tesla say Monday in a filed with the SEC it held nearly $2 billion in bitcoin at the end of last year.
The company bought a total of $1.5 billion in bitcoin in 2021. Cryptocurrencies end the year up nearly 60%, trading above $46,000 on December 31. It fell to a low of $30,000 in July amid fears of a regulatory crackdown in China, then rallied to an all-time high above $68,000 in early November. Bitcoin was trading. just under $43,000 on Monday morning.
Tesla was quick to accept bitcoin as a payment option but stop in May about environmental concerns.
Tesla do not treat bitcoin as a ticker asset for the market, which means it only affects earnings when it buys or sells currencies. Therefore, a drop in the value of bitcoin will not affect earnings as long as Tesla has not divested any of its shares.
Tesla has recorded a $101 million impairment loss in 2021 from its bitcoin investment, citing the cryptocurrency’s drop in value over a period of time. filed with the SEC. Tesla added that it raised $128 million after selling a portion of its shares last March. Overall, Tesla raked in $27 million from its crypto transactions for the year, which was recorded as a negative loss in restructuring and other expenses.
– CNBC’s Ryan Browne and MacKenzie Sigalos contributed to this report.
